Mark Southern learned the airline business from the ground up, rising from an entry-level position to become Air Canada’s managing director of airport operations for North America.

He’s made a lot of connections over the years, but the 1988 Business Administration grad credits Red River College with launching his high-flying career.

“It was a good experience for me. It was exactly what I needed at the time,” he says, adding it was just what his parents, Dawn and Oakley, needed too.

“Both my parents were teachers; my dad was in administration for years. I think they were a little concerned that their son was playing a lot of hockey with no clear career plan.”

Southern was intrigued by leadership even as a teen working for Pacific Western Airlines, one of the companies that amalgamated in the late 1980s as Canadian Airlines, which itself merged with Air Canada in 2001.

“It’s one of the most interesting topics for me, leadership. It’s what I’m kind of passionate about it, and so that’s why I chose Business Administration,” he says.

“In that moment in time, the first big step was I had to get a management position and I thought, ‘Well I need to get some education.’ ”

The RRC program gave him a solid grounding in the broader business world, and as a union lead hand at the airline, Southern was able to put some of the lessons of organizational behaviour into practice right away.

“The other part that I thought was really cool was a lot of the instructors were business guys who were passionate about education,” he says. Read More →

No one wants to discuss their sexual health with a stranger. But those who enter Heather Day’s care can rest assured they’re in a judgment-free zone.

As a nurse at Nine Circles Community Health Centre testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, the Red River College grad creates a warm, welcoming environment for her patients – no matter which road led them to her.

“You’re asking people about their sexual health and their drug use and it can be pretty difficult to talk about that stuff in a cold, clinical environment,” says Day. “You need to help relax and put people at ease and tell them why it’s important that you’re asking these questions.”

Day graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing from the College’s three-year accelerated program in 2013. Six months after completing her senior practicum at Nine Circles, she landed a permanent position there conducting tests for STIs and HIV, providing support for those affected by HIV/AIDS, and promoting harm reduction for those who are at risk.

Her patient base comprises a number of at-risk populations, including those involved in the sex trade and people who use intravenous drugs.

“I’ve seen a lot of vulnerable people there,” says Day, who takes an empathic approach to care, focusing on trying to make her patients’ circumstances and actions safer, rather than condoning or condemning them. “Sometimes people will engage in behaviours that you would never engage in for whatever reason, so it’s really important to not focus on yourself and to focus on your clients.”

“There’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to sex. So there can’t be a one size fits all approach to treatment and management of infections.” Read More →

Looking for ways to give back and volunteer with Red River College? Our hard-working students are finished their year-long business projects and look forward to showing our business partners what they have created. Please consider becoming a judge for our 2016 Entrepreneurship Tradeshow and Oral Presentations!

Tradeshow details:

March 17 | 1:00 – 4:30 PM | Wine and Cheese at 3:00 PM
Drop in at any time and judge three booths on their presentation and knowledge of the business venture they have created.

Oral presentation details:

March 21, 22 or 23 | 9:00 – 11:30 AM or 12:00 – 2:30 PM each day
Choose a date and a time slot that works for you! We provide a copy of the student’s business plan beforehand with a marking guide to aide you. On the date of their presentations, students pitch their ideas to the judges, and you have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.

For more information or to sign up as a judge, please contact:

Andrea McCann-Suchower
amccann-suchower@rrc.ca or 204-632-2943

Sarah Brazauskas always knew she didn’t want a one-size-fits-all career. As it turns out, the 27-year-old graduate of Red River College’s Graphic Design program walked into a dream job that could have been custom-tailored just for her.

As the first full-time Storyboot School coordinator for Aboriginal footwear phenomenon Manitobah Mukluks, Brazauskas pours herself into her work heart and sole, bringing together Aboriginal artists and students in the community and at the company’s Point Douglas headquarters.

“We’re teaching the art of mukluk- and moccasin-making to Aboriginal youth in an effort to keep the tradition alive within the community and spark the next generation of crafters and artists,” she says.

The job ticks all the boxes on the fulfillment front: Creatively satisfying, it has positive social implications and it resonates on a personal level too, connecting Brazauskas with her Aboriginal roots.

The school grew out of the Storyboot Project founded by Manitobah Mukluks CEO Sean McCormick. Storyboots are moccasins, mukluks and other craftworks created by Aboriginal artists who receive 100% of the proceeds from sales. Starting in 2013, classes were organized under an informal management framework, and Brazauskas took on the role of coordinator last April.

Six months later, she was featured in Maclean’s magazine’s Cool Jobs series. The experience was humbling — Brazauskas doesn’t like to be in the spotlight — but it was exciting as well. Her mom Jocelyn bought several copies of the magazine and it was posted in the Rennie Hotel, making her a minor celebrity in her small hometown on the outskirts of Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Read More →

Navigate Winnipeg’s Know Your Zone program with ease using Snow Your Zone, a free app developed by Red River College grads Jeffrey Fulton, Rob Ring, and Mackenzie Plowman of Tilted Compass.

Avoid parking tickets (or costly tows!) by searching parking zones by address, street corner, or business name and getting notifications about upcoming bans.

The app uses data from the City of Winnipeg; using a map view, it shows your location, the zone you’re in, and whether there’s a ban affecting you right now or within the next 24 hours.

Snow Your Zone is available for free download on Apple and Android products.

The Embassy and Consulate General of Canada in Vietnam are building a Canadian Alumni Network that will bring together Vietnamese from all walks of life who have one important link: a Canadian education.

They are hoping that Vietnamese alumni from Red River College will join this network to help strengthen the important people-to-people links between Canada and Vietnam and encourage others to choose Canada as their study destination.

The Canadian Alumni Network in Vietnam will hold its inaugural events in March 2016, in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

If you are interested in participating in this new and exciting network, let them know by sending an email message to HOCHI.Alumni@international.gc.ca.

In an era where vehicles practically drive themselves, you’d think the automotive trade might have evolved with the technology. But female mechanics are still almost as rare as flying cars.

Elaine Lagasse is hoping to change that.

A graduate of Red River College’s Automotive Service Educational program, Lagasse is also RRC’s first female automotive instructor. She sees the number of female students walking in – or perhaps kicking down – the door of the Automotive Technician Certificate program, and it’s not pretty.

“We probably average three or four per cent women,” she says. “So (in a program with 100 students), that’s three or four women. The numbers are very, very low.”

Lagasse was the only woman in her program’s class of 2004. She graduated with top marks and received the Ken Preboy Memorial Award before moving on to become a Red Seal Automotive Technician for four years, then landed her current position as an RRC instructor in 2008.

“There’s no reason why the numbers haven’t picked up more than they have,” Lagasse says of the program’s relative lack of female students. “I think the big thing is just breaking the barrier and realizing that there’s nothing that makes (the automotive trade) more suited for men versus women.” Read More →

There’s no dust settling on Winnipeg eco-entrepreneur Todd Burns.

The globetrotting president of Cypher Environmental has travelled far since he graduated from RRC’s Business Administration program in 2001, taking Cypher’s dust-suppression, road-stabilization and water-treatment products to dozens of countries.

“The last time I counted it was well above 35, so I’m probably around 41 or 42 right now. Last year I went to a few countries for the first time ever — Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru and Colombia.”

Even jet-lagged, the 34-year-old entrepreneur is usually the freshest face in the room wherever business takes him, whether he’s networking with local, national and international trade groups, or meeting with Cypher’s distributors in Asia, Africa, Europe, the U.S., Mexico and South America.

“Our distributors worldwide, the owners of those businesses have children my age,” he laughs.

Burns was by far the youngest executive invited to fly to Mexico with former prime minister Stephen Harper to attend the Three Amigos Trade Summit in February 2014 — an “awesome” experience that came three months before he joined a youthful peer group at a meet-and-greet with Prince Charles at AssentWorks during a whirlwind royal tour. And he was among a handful of local business owners asked to take part in a federal round-table on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Last year, he returned to RRC to speak to students in the International Business program, and he’s collaborating with RRC staff and students to further develop Cypher’s environmentally friendly dust-suppressant Dust Stop, with the support of a $65,000 Applied Research and Development grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

Read More →

An award of distinction, the Honorary Degree/Diploma is the highest honour Red River College can bestow upon an individual. This award recognizes individuals in diverse fields who are distinguished by their significant accomplishments and contributions – locally, nationally or internationally – and whose receipt of the award will bring honour and distinction to RRC.

Past recipients of this award have included Ace Burpee, Lisa Meeches, Gail Asper, and The Honourable Mr. Justice Murray Sinclair. Consider nominating an individual if he or she:

1. Has made significant contributions to either: (1) Red River College; (2) a particular field of post-secondary study; and/or (3) post-secondary education on a local, national or international level;
2. Has accomplished great success in either a paid or volunteer position that reflects the values of Red River College;
3. Enhances or promotes the College’s image/reputation in Manitoba or elsewhere; and/or
4. Serves as an inspirational example to the College community due to significant accomplishment or achievement.

More information on these prestigious awards is available on the Alumni microsite, including the online nomination form. The deadline for nominations is Friday, January 15.

If you have additional questions, please contact the Alumni Engagement office at 204-632-2359 or alumni@rrc.ca.

There are those who prefer to make the news, and those who prefer to be the news. Red River College graduate Stephanie Scherbain knows which side she’s on.

“I wanted to be a part of the news, and not write the news,” says Scherbain, a graduate of RRC’s Creative Communications program. “I felt like I could make a difference by being in an organization that had initiatives and had something for journalists to write about.”

Mission accomplished. After studying both journalism and public relations in her first year of CreComm, Scherbain chose to major in PR during the program’s second year. She graduated in 2008 with all of the tools she needed to fulfill her career goals – and fast.

She landed a marketing job at St. Vital Centre in 2009 before assuming her current position as marketing and communications coordinator for the Exchange District Business Improvement Zone (BIZ) in 2010. There she shines a spotlight on the bustling area of downtown Winnipeg, by maintaining the organization’s website, working with businesses to create events, organizing culinary tours, and even playing tour guide herself on walking tours of the historic district.

“We feel that the Exchange is in the midst of a renaissance,” she says.

Scherbain credits her practical and hands-on CreComm education for giving her all of the tools she requires to do her job, from technical and presentation skills to TV and radio industry insight.

“It gives you the ability to think from different perspectives,” she says. “If you want to be on the news, then you’ve got to have something newsworthy. But then you have to think from the TV perspective, the visual perspective. It allows you to adapt to the different industries to make it a bigger, better picture.” Read More →